Nosepiece buckle



Nov; 7, 1961 v. F. GONGOLL 3,007,173

NOSEPIECE BUCKLE 7 Filed April 25, 1958 INVENTOR.

United States Patent Ofiice 3,007,173 Patented Nov. 7., 1961 3,007,173 NOSEPIECE BUCKLE Vernon F. Gongoll, Shillington, Pa., assignor to The Electric Storage Battery Company, Philadelphia, Pa. Filed Apr. 23, 1958, Ser. No. 730,431 1 Claim. (Cl. 214) This invention relates to ophthalmic mountings and, more particularly, to an adjustable and flexible nosepiece for a pair of goggles, such as used for protection of the eyes in industrial occupations.

It is known in the art to provide a pair of goggles comprising separate eye cups having integral partial nosepieces which are slotted so that a leather strap may be inserted through the slots and provide a flexible nosepiece which is adjustable as to length to fit the wearers eyes.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced in the past for the lack of a suitable type of adjustment in the leather nosepiece. An outstanding disadvantage has been that commonly used means for adjusting the length of strap of the nosepiece have been complicated in construction or have provided difiiculty in making the adjustment.

An object of the present invention is to provide a flexible and adjustable nosepiece for goggles which is devoid of the above named disadvantages and which provides quick and easy adjustment of the length of the nosepiece even while the goggles are worn.

A further object of my invention is to provide an adjustable nosepiece buckle for goggles which is exceedingly simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein;

FIG. 1 is a perspective, exploded view showing the two pieces which form the nosepiece construction of my invention, but wherein the pieces are shown separately to more clearly illustrate the invention and;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing, in dotted outline, the portions of the separate cups of a pair of goggles which are slotted in the nosepiece portion and which are joined together by the nosepiece embodying the present invention.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 1 denotes a nosepiece of flexible material, such as leather, and having integral laterally extending arms 2 and 3 which bear a plurality of spaced holes, such as 2a and 3a, for adjustment purposes. The strap portions 2 and 3 are first passed through slots formed in the nosepiece portions of the separate pair of goggle cups 4 and 5 shown in dotted outline, thence through a buckle 6, whereby the goggle cups are held together by suitably adjusting the length of the loop formed by straps 2 and 3. By adjusting the buckle connection to straps 2 and 3, the distance between the eye cups 4 and 5 may be varied so as to adjust the goggle lenses so that their separation will correspond to that of the eyes of the wearer.

An important feature of the present invention resides in the specific construction of the buckle 6 which ties together, in an adjustable manner, the straps 2 and 3. Buckle 6 is made of a flat and single piece of metal, such as steel or aluminum, or it may be made of plastic material. The buckle 6 is provided with arms or extensions 6b at the four corner portions thereof which project toward the center of the side portions. The buckle is provided with a central opening having serrated sides 60 for frictionally engaging the straps 2 and 3. Thus, substantially E-shaped side portions are provided because at the center portions of the buckle there are provided laterally extending projections 6c which are adapted to be inserted into any of the holes 2a and 3a of the straps 2 and 3 to effect adjustment of the length of loop formed by the straps.

In operation, it will be seen that by passing the straps through the central hole of the buckle and by selectively inserting the projections 6c into any suitable holes 2a and 3a and thence passing the straps through the end slots of the buckle, different nosepiece lengths may be obtained so as to adjust the amount of separation between the goggle cups 4 and 5 to suit the individual wearer. Buckle 6, although of one piece, has the function of two buckles since it is adjustably secured to two straps 2 and 3. Projections 6c should project either in the outer-most holes 2a and 3a or the next ones of both straps 2 and 3 to provide a balanced nosepiece.

The operator can with great facility, and even while the goggles are being worn, change the adjustment of the nosepiece and separation of the goggle cups by merely pushing the ends of straps 2 and 3 inwardly and forwardly so as to disengage the projection 60 from the holes, whereupon the projections may be reinserted in other desired holes so as to readjust the goggles.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efficient, flexible nosepiece construction enabling easy, quick and simple adjustment of a pair of goggles, that is, separation of the goggle cups thereof so as to correspond to the spacing of eyes of the particular wearer; furthermore, I have provided a simple leather adjustable nosepiece for goggles which includes a very simple one piece buckle construction which has the function of two buckles and which provides easy adjustment and which construction is very inexpensive.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

In a nosepiece having opposed straps and a buckle for adjustably connecting a pair of goggle rims having slots through which said straps extend before looping through the buckle, said buckle comprising a flat, one piece sheet stock of generally rectangular outline having a central rectangular opening with serrated vertical sides and having side portions of substantially E -shape in spaced, back-to-back relationship with each other and adjoining said serrated vertical sides, said side portions comprising projections at each of the four corners of the buckle which extend substantially parallel to said serrated vertical sides and terminate short of the center of each of the opposite sides and comprising two oppositely extending central projections integral with the central portions of said side portions, said straps projecting through said central opening and being reversely bent so as to project through the side openings formed by said substantially E-shapes, whereby said projections are selectively inserted into suitable holes in said straps for adjusting the distance between said goggle rims.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,333,241 Jolly Mar. 9, 1920 2,084,412 Shaefer June 22, 1937 2,727,237 Malcom Dec. 20, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,280 Great Britain Nov. 21, 1896 255,747 Great Britain July 29, 1926 777,500 Great Britain June 26, 1957 

